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| Kisumu Girls Students |
Parents were treated to a rude shock when
schools opened for the term one as they got the revised fee structures. It is
now emerging that the newly elevated national secondary schools have doubled in
other extreme cases tripled their school fees. For instance, in Baringo High School,
Baringo County, the parents were paying approximately Ksh.24, 000 as at last
year but this year, the school management revised the fee structure and now
parents are required to part with Ksh.48, 000, double the amount they used to
pay last year. In another case in Kisumu County, parents of students in Kisumu
Girls (which was the only girls’ school to be elevated in the county) increased
their school fees to a staggering Ksh. 70,000 down from Ksh.30, 000. “That
amount can cater for two academic years for my son who is in the university!”
said a parent who was rather astonished by the inflated school fees.
New
Status
It is not understood on what basis the
schools decided to increase the school fees given that the government through
the Ministry of Education disbursed Ksh.25 million to each school for upgrading
of its facilities to that of a national school. It is not clear weather the
government sanctioned the move by the schools but in common practice the fee
structure is revised after carrying out consultations with the parents and
approval by the government. The government is yet to respond to this
unfortunate trend. It is widely believed that the hiking of the school fee has
been undertaken owing to the new status that the schools have attained.
Locking
Out Needy Students
The
government decided to increase the number of national schools to create more
space for the students going to the schools which usually perform exceptionally
than the county and district secondary schools. However, bright students from
needy families have missed out the chance to learn in the best schools since
they cannot afford the usually extremely high school fees. Some parents have
decided to pull out their students saying that they cannot to pay the revised
fee. “I have three children in the institutions of higher learning with two in
the university privately sponsored and one in college. I cannot afford to pay
the new school fees” Said one of the parents. The move by the newly upgraded
national schools to increase their school fees will lock more students from
less fortunate families to join the schools.
